1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for testing physical acuity. It provides a test built around alertness and coordination rather than memory and provides a rapid determination of the test subject's physical acuity or impairment by reason of intoxication.
2. Prior Art
There is an ever increasing awareness that many functions in today's complex world require minimum levels of physical acuity and cannot tolerate substantial levels of impairment through fatigue, intoxication, or stress. Well known settings relate to the operation of motor vehicles on the highway, to the operation of heavy equipment at the job site, and to the operation of machine tools and the like in a factory setting. In these and other situations, it would be desirable to have a simple and reliable test device which provides information related to the particular test subject's performance.
Heretofore, devices have been used to provide a physical/chemical reading of actual intoxicant levels. These devices, such as the "breath-a-lyzer", or the actual drawing of an individual's blood for chemical measurement, are time consuming and require constant recalibration.
A number of electronic devices have also been proposed in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,024,020, issued to Werner Alton et al. in 1962, provided a large-scale device where the test subject stepped on a plurality of treble switches to generate a signal to match a provided standard signal. U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,540, issued to E. Donald Sussman et al in 1975, disclosed an ignition interlock device in which the operator presses buttons in response to illumination of certain preselected lights. U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,776, issued to William A. Kotras in 1973, provides an ignition interlock device in which a number is displayed to a test subject and then removed. The test subject must input the number to start the car. U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,176, issued to Charles N. Abernethy, III et al. in 1975, provides an automobile safety interlock system based on the test subject's ability to properly move his attention between two displays. U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,819, issued to Norman K. Walker in 1977, provides a means for measuring the test subject's performance in a first test task while under variable levels of stress induced by the performance of a second task. U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,870, issued to Lawrence J. Epstein in 1978 provides an ignition interlock device in which a predetermined correct sequence of signals must be sent to the device within a predetermined period to achieve an unlock of the ignition or the like. U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,121, issued to Lane P. Perelli in 1984, provides a performance assessment device in which the test subject is provided with a series of tests with increasing difficulty. Response time is the parameter measured.
These prior devices differ from the present invention in that, in general, they compare the test taker to a universal standard. This can have the deficiency of unfairly penalizing certain individuals who are inherently less coordinated or have decreased memory skills, and also permitting other individuals through training or exceptional skills, to pass the test even when impaired.
It is a fundamental object of this invention to provide a physical acuity test device which does not have this failing of the prior art devices.